In rotary regenerative heat exchange apparatus a mass of heat absorbent material commonly comprised of packed element plates is positioned in a hot gas passageway to absorb heat from hot gases passing therethrough. After the plates become heated in the hot gas stream, they are moved into a cool air passageway where the heated plates transmit their heat to a stream of cooler air or other fluid passing therethrough.
The heat absorbent material is carried by a rotor in a rotor shell and surrounded by fixed housing structure that includes sector plates at opposite ends thereof arranged to separate the hot gas from the cooler air. To prevent mingling of the hot and cool fluids, the end edges of the rotor are usually provided with flexible sealing members that extend axially to the adjacent surface of the surrounding rotor housing while flexible sealing means surround the central rotor post to resiliently accommodate a limited amount of expansion and contraction that accompanies thermal variations of the rotor.
Arrangements have been devised whereby the sector plates are supported at their inboard ends on axially movable supports in the manner shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,868 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,703. In no instance, however, has it been shown or even suggested that rotor post sealing means, as well as the inboard ends of the sector plates, be moved axially together to provide continuous sealing and an optimum sealing arrangement throughout a wide range of expansion and contraction of the relatively movable parts.